Tuesday, April 22, 2008

FitsI've been collecting Obama stuff. I mean, you all know, I collect yarn. I've not shared all the other crap, junk, collectibles I enjoy hoarding, collecting.

Who could resist, Obama lip balm? Right? I mean who came up with that idea?

I have Lady Bird Johnson pens, Kennedy biographies, Nixon videos, Johnson tapes. A compulsion you ask? Hardly. Look at this, it's what my pal Phyllis sent me this morning. Now collecting Pyrex is a compulsion!

Starts

Remember I told you all about this project. Not done anything with it since I started it. Who knew that knitting with nubby, bulky yarn could cause your wrists to seize?

FitsI spent the day in the ER on Saturday. I was coming out of the bank and all of a sudden I felt panicky, my palms were sweating and my heart started racing. I've been to the bank in the past when they were just about ready to slap me because of my poor accounting but that didn't happen this time. I honestly thought I was about to have a heart attack!

I drove myself to the ER, we have a hospital right in town. Five hours later, I'm hooked up to all kinds of machines and some kind of IV drip to inject dyes into my blood so that the CAT scan could see where it is my last serving of Fettuccine Alfredo got clogged in my arteries. But they found Nada. Nothing. Good thing I suppose. My doctor asked me how many kids I had. When I told him that I had 3 teenage boys. He actually gasped when he noticed my age (49) and said that I was probably starting perimenopause or my kids were working my last nerve. Actually he didn't say any of that but he did channel those thoughts into my head by the look he gave me when he said that living in Ridgewood is very stressful. What the %$#$ does that mean? Sarcasm, I hate it when other people use it against me. Geez.

StartsAs I was getting dressed I overheard a nurse pleading with a very old woman across the hall to take off her girdle. This was going on while I was pulling and tugging with my jeans to get them over my hips and fastened. Girdle? People still wear girdles?

"I don't feel dressed if I don't have on my girdle." says the old lady"Well exactly, Mame, I'm trying to get you to unwind and relax until the doctor comes in.""I would never see the doctor without my girdle on, nurse."

As I fumbled with my zipper, it hit me. I could buy a girdle and this would go so much better. Sure, I'd probably do irreparable harm to my internal organs but I could finally tuck my shirts in again.

Exhibit A:

I'm going to order a dozen!

FitsEtsy. It's become an illness. You could actually go shopping there and never hit the same store twice. Look what I had to have for just $15 bucks

It's a kit I bought from Heather Knitz. It's knit with strips of fabric. Really nice but I feel my wrists seizing...

StartsOne of my favorite blogs is, Through the Loops. You can find lots of great stuff to knit over there. I'm doing these, now that I'm out of Jaywalker purgatory:

Achillea and Anna's Socks. Isn't it pretty, I'm using Dream in Color's Smoochy

I've got a whole lot more stuff on the needles but I enjoy the variety, I make no excuses just enjoy being able to knit what I want when I want, no pressure, no goals just knitting.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Whelp, I survived the play. It actually was pretty, pretty good. My son's love scene was a fully clothed one so I remained fairly conscious even with all of the apparently real kissing and rolling about the stage.

The weekend away wasn't without other adventures. My telephone didn't cooperate and I missed many attempts to be contacted by Stacy over on Crimson Purl. Bummer. It would have been fun to have finally met her and take in some shop visits.

Traveling out of town wreaks havoc on one's calendar. I had to handle lots of business by phone - like planning my 13 year old's Africa Day at his school, overseeing huge homework projects and a myriad of other things. Stacy, that's how I burned out my cell phone and missed your calls!

I also missed my 16 year old's big track meet.

And the terrific spring weather that got all the trees to finally blossom here in New Jersey

All in all, I was so glad that my husband insisted that I go to the play even though I knew that it was going to be a bit really weird. It was so worth it.

So, what does all of this have to do with Karma you ask? Well, as with all addicted knitters, one of the first things I attended to when I returned was to run by my LYS to see what I missed. Phyllis was back from her first cruise vacation and I so wanted to hear all about that. Then, as if on queue, this guy shows up

A Buddhist monk stopped in to ask Phyllis if she would put up an announcement in the store window. If that is not confirmation that my LYS, Phyllis and I have good Karma, I don't know what is!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

No, I am not on Cloud Nine. That, is the name of my college son's play. I'll be flying out to North Carolina to see him in his first college theatre production. Once you've read the play's synopsis, below, you'll understand my trepidation:

CLOUD NINE is about relationships -- between men and women, men and men, women and women. It is about sex, work, mothers, Africa, power, children, grandmothers, politics, money, Queen Victoria and... sex. It unlocks the imagination, liberates the mind, and leaves you weak with laughter.

I'll certainly be weak, for sure, from cringing...

What I've been knitting....

A nubby, slubby vest

I sweet silk scarf

And, I'm making this shawl for my mother-in-law.

I love my mother-in-law. She lives far away in central america.

Of course this is many years ago when she was a very young woman. I don't think I ever looked that good.

It has been many years since we've last seen each other and I miss her wisdom, her laughter and most of all, how she keeps my husband in line!

This is a photo of one of the last times she visited us here in the States. Oh, and that's my father-in-law in the center, he's way cool too!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Those of you who haven't enough knitting and tend to waste your hours away on Ravelry vicariously checking out what other knitters are doing would appreciate this. Over on the Jon Stewart Group, I decided that it would be fun for a bunch of us to meetup for one of his tapings.

We stood on line and happily chatted and knitted/crocheted the hours away. Just before we were led into the studio, we had to pass through an official looking xray machine and empty our belonging into a plastic tub, airline style.

My addi turbos holding my jon stewart beenie was unceremoniously confiscated! A very cute black security guard placed it into a lock box. I pleaded with him and his face said that he wished that he could "hook a sista up", but his job was a bit more important. Even after I explained that my addi's have blunt tips and only the addi lace turbos have pointy tips... He wasn't impressed. He liked his job and wasn't going to be seduced by a 49 year old knitter, not even one from Jersey.

He did, however, give me a dreamy look of regret and promised me that they would be safe and that he would personally return them to me after the show. So went all of our knitting, put away in a dinky plastic safe as if they were dangerous. Oh, world, how little you know ye. Knitters are the most peaceful, law abiding, generous....

Inside the show, with absolutely nothing to do with my hands, we waited another hour until the warm up show began. A very funny comedian comes out to "warm up the crowd". It was funny but I was still pouting about my incarcerated knitting. Then we were instructed on how to clap and and when not to clap. Since I had nothing in my hands I guess I could be a good clapper.

When Jon Stewart came out he was very perky. He said that he likes to start the show by asking if anyone had any questions:Me: "Do you knit?"

Jon: "Er, no?"

Me: "Precisely, because if you did you would not have instructed your very cute security guy to confiscate my knitting BEFORE I got to finish your hat."

Jon: "So you think that two sharp implements that you could theoretically gouge the eyes out of any unsuspecting guest isn't reason enough to lock up those weapons."

Me: "They aren't weapons they are addi turbo needles."

Jon: "So those needles have names, do they? What other kind of needles are there and why are YOUR needles so special"

Me: "There are many kinds. My needles ARE very special and as a matter of fact, some people are so devoted to them they refer to themselves as 'Addi Ho's'."

Jon: "For some reason, when I think of 'Ho's' I don't think of knitters...."